More Information Sessions Planned On Proposal for New Berlin Police Department

BERLIN — Several more informational gatherings on the proposed $21 million police station will be scheduled before the Nov. 4 election, which will include a question seeking voter approval of the project.

Since 1995, police department reports have said the station — now on the ground floor of town hall — is inadequate

Two tours of the current station are scheduled for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and Nov. 1 at 9:30 a.m.. Police Chief Paul Fitzgerald and others on the town's 42-officer force will walk visitors through the 40-year-old station and show why a larger station is needed.

A discussion of the proposal is scheduled for Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. in the town hall council chambers, just before to regular council meeting at 7.

Turnout at previous tours and information sessions has been small — fewer than two dozen residents — so far since the town began them in August.

A "couple of people" have signed up for the two station tours, Marlene Way, the department administrative assistant, said Tuesday. Anyone wishing to tour the station should call Way at 860-828-7093 to schedule a tour.

Anyone who wishes to tour the station but who can't make it either of the two scheduled days should contact the department "and we'll do our best to accommodate the request," Deputy Chief John Klett said Tuesday.

The issue will be on the November ballot as a referendum question, asking voters to approve financing for the proposal.

In previous sessions, the police chief, the town engineer, the town finance director, the project architect and a staff member of the firm hired as project contruction manager went over project details — the long history of the proposal, the necessary cleanup of a building site, why the current station can't be expanded, what the yearly financial impact will be on taxpayers, and why plans call for a station three times as large as the current 10,000 square-foot station.

Chief Paul Fitzgerald said that the station is inadequate for police needs and that the proposed building is intended to meet department needs for the next 40 years.

The proposal had its roots in numerous department needs studies dating back to 1995 concluding that a larger police station is needed. In previous sessions, Town Engineer Arthur Simonian said that an architect was hired in 2008 to prepare a detailed needs assessment, that the town bought land on 903-913 Farmington Ave. in 2011 for eventual police station use and that over several years the council has approved a dozen grant applications and requests linked to a new police station.

Council Republicans said this summer that voters should have the final say on the project and collected enough valid signatures to place it there.